SALT LAKE -- In what was billed as the game of the decade, No. 7 Utah took advantage of several Cougar mistakes en route to a 48-24 victory over No. 14 BYU.
Before a crowd of 46,488 at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the second largest in Ute history, the two nationally ranked teams matched field goals, touchdowns, punts, but not interceptions and fumbles.
"We made too many mistakes to win the game," said BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall. "Turnovers were the name of the game. That was the difference. Utah was opportunistic and made the most of those opportunities, and we did not.
Quarterback Max Hall completed 21-of-41 passes for 201 yards, but had a career-high five interceptions. A bright spot for the Cougars was the performances of wide receiver Austin Collie, whose 104 yards receiving gave him his 10th consecutive 100-yard performance. He also surpassed Eric Drage to become BYU’s all-time leading receiver setting a new school record with 3,136 receiving yards. Sophomore running back Harvey Unga had 116 yards rushing on 15 carries to go over 1,000 yards for consecutive seasons.
The lost ended a streak of 20-straight BYU wins while playing in the state of Utah, dating back to November 2005 when the Utes won 41-34 in overtime in Provo. The Cougars had not lost in Salt Lake City since 2004.
Behind 19 seniors playing their final home game, Utah took an early 17-3 lead before BYU, now 10-2, came back to tie the game 17-17 in the first half.
Utah got the scoring going early on a 37-yard Louie Sakoda field goal with 9:48 in the first quarter. Collie countered with a 70-yard kickoff return to the Utah 38-yard line that set up a 40-yard field goal by Mitch Payne to knot the score, 3-3. Utah scored next on an 80-yard drive that ended in a 16-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Brent Casteel. The accompanying PAT put Utah up 10-3.
Utah scored again just 1:16 into the second quarter, when Matt Asiata lined up behind center in shotgun formation and took the snap into the end zone from five yards out. Sakoda’s kick increased the Utah lead to 17-3.
On its next possession, BYU scored on a 23-yard Unga touchdown run and with Payne’s kick closed the gap to 17-10.
After forcing Utah’s first punt of the game, BYU went on a nine-play, 75-yard drive to tie the score at 17-17. Unga scored on a direct snap while Hall was waving an audible to the opposite side of the field.
With 1:41 left in the first half, a 36-yard field goal by Sakoda gave the Utes a 20-17 lead. On the next BYU possession Collie broke the BYU all-time career reception record, but a few plays later Hall threw an interception to end the drive. The miscue allowed Johnson to connect with David Reed on a 32-yard touchdown strike with just 15 seconds left in the second quarter to give Utah a 27-17 halftime margin.
Dennis Pitta caught his first pass of the game, a 16-yarder at the 10-minute mark of the third quarter to give BYU a critical third-down conversion. Bryan Kariya, Fui Vakapuna and Unga took turns via the ground game, and a pass interference penalty put BYU in the Blue Zone. With 6:36 in the third quarter, Hall scrambled up the middle for an 11-yard touchdown to draw within three at 27-24.
BYU’s defense stiffened, forcing a third consecutive Utah punt, this time three-and-out. Utah, however, forced a Hall fumble as he scrambling out of the pocket with Paul Kruger recovering on the BYU 31-yard line as the third quarter came to an end.
The fourth quarter was all Utah as three BYU interceptions led to three Ute touchdowns in a game that was much closer than the 48-24 final score.
Box Score (Final)
#14 BY vs #7 Utah (Nov 22, 2008 at Salt Lake City)
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
BY.................. 3 14 7 0 - 24 Record: (10-2,6-2)
Utah................ 10 17 0 21 - 48 Record: (12-0,8-0)
Scoring Summary:
1st 09:48 UU - SAKODA, Louie 37 yd field goal, 12-60 5:12, BY 0 - UU 3
08:27 BY - PAYNE, Mitch 40 yd field goal, 4-8 1:09, BY 3 - UU 3
04:25 UU - CASTEEL, Brent 16 yd pass from JOHNSON, Brian (SAKODA, Louie kick), 10-80 4:02, BY 3 - UU 10
2nd 13:44 UU - ASIATA, Matt 5 yd run (SAKODA, Louie kick), 8-66 3:22, BY 3 - UU 17
10:38 BY - UNGA, Harvey 23 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 7-68 3:00, BY 10 - UU 17
06:26 BY - UNGA, Harvey 2 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 9-75 2:38, BY 17 - UU 17
01:41 UU - SAKODA, Louie 35 yd field goal, 9-57 4:39, BY 17 - UU 20
00:15 UU - REED, David 32 yd pass from JOHNSON, Brian (SAKODA, Louie kick), 3-44 0:21, BY 17 - UU 27
3rd 06:46 BY - HALL, Max 11 yd run (PAYNE, Mitch kick), 11-83 4:06, BY 24 - UU 27
4th 14:31 UU - CASTEEL, Brent 8 yd pass from JOHNSON, Brian (SAKODA, Louie kick), 4-31 0:37, BY 24 - UU 34
12:00 UU - JOPPRU, Chris 4 yd pass from ASIATA, Matt (SAKODA, Louie kick), 1-4 0:04, BY 24 - UU 41
02:48 UU - SAMPSON, Colt 1 yd pass from JOHNSON, Brian (SAKODA, Louie kick), 9-29 5:14, BY 24 - UU 48
BY UU
FIRST DOWNS................... 25 27
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 30-214 35-108
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 205 307
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 41-21-5 37-31-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 71-419 72-415
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 0-0 1-14
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 8-226 3-70
Interception Returns-Yards.... 0-0 5-77
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 2-54.5 4-44.2
Fumbles-Lost.................. 1-1 2-0
Penalties-Yards............... 9-85 5-51
Possession Time............... 26:14 33:46
Third-Down Conversions........ 4 of 12 4 of 11
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 2 of 2 1 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 2-3 7-7
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 1-4 0-0
RUSHING: BY-UNGA, Harvey 15-116; HALL, Max 7-42; VAKAPUNA, Fui 4-36;
COLLIE, Austin 2-14; KARIYA, Bryan 1-8; TEAM 1-minus 2. Utah-MACK, Darrell 9-40;
ASIATA, Matt 10-33; JOHNSON, Brian 13-28; CASTEEL, Brent 2-9; Team 1-minus 2.
PASSING: BY-HALL, Max 21-41-5-205. Utah-JOHNSON, Brian 30-36-0-303;
ASIATA, Matt 1-1-0-4.
RECEIVING: BY-COLLIE, Austin 10-104; REED, Michael 5-58; UNGA, Harvey
3-5; PITTA, Dennis 2-33; KARIYA, Bryan 1-5. Utah-BROWN, Freddie 8-97; CASTEEL,
Brent 6-60; BROOKS, Jereme 5-49; REED, David 4-60; ASIATA, Matt 3-21; GODFREY,
Bradon 3-15; JOPPRU, Chris 1-4; SAMPSON, Colt 1-1.
INTERCEPTIONS: BY-None. Utah-DALE, Joe 2-9; SMITH, Sean 1-38; KRUGER,
Paul 1-30; JOHNSON, Robert 1-0.
FUMBLES: BY-HALL, Max 1-1. Utah-JOHNSON, Brian 1-0; CASTEEL, Brent 1-0.
SACKS (UA-A): BY-AH YOU, Matt 0-1; DENNEY, Brett 0-1. Utah-None.
TACKLES (UA-A): BY-BAUMAN, Matt 9-3; NIXON, David 4-4; FOWLER, Kellen
2-6; CLAWSON, Coleby 1-6; BRADLEY, Brando 4-2; DOMAN, Shawn 2-3; AH YOU, Matt
2-3; DENNEY, Brett 1-4; TAFUNA, David 1-3; JORGENSEN, Jan 1-3; SORENSEN, Danie
2-1; HOWARD, Brandon 2-0; RICH, Andrew 1-1; PRITCHARD, Iona 0-2; HADLEY, Spencer
0-2; PUTNAM, Matt 1-0; REYNOLDS, Dalla 1-0; FOKETI, Mosese 1-0; COLLIE, Austin
1-0; HALL, Max 1-0; TIALAVEA, Russe 0-1; DILUIGI, JJ 0-1; DULAN, Ian 0-1;
SORENSEN, Justi 0-1; HUNTER, Shane 0-1. Utah-WRIGHT, Mike 6-3; DALE, Joe 5-2;
MISI, Koa 3-3; KRUGER, Paul 3-3; MCCAIN, Brice 3-3; JOHNSON, Robert 2-3;
SYLVESTER, Stev 0-5; STANFORD, R.J. 4-0; SMITH, Sean 2-2; SHELBY, Derrick 0-3;
COLE, Terrell 0-3; PEEL, John 2-0; RICE, RJ 2-0; RICHARD,Deshawn 1-1; NEWMAN,
Greg 0-2; WALKER, Chaz 1-0; TANNER, Damilyn 0-1; WIDE, Eddie 0-1; JONES, Justin
0-1.